A night away from misery …

Here’s a note from a frequent e-mailer who was at Thursday’s Houston-Oregon game…

Two young kids, 14 & 15, sat next to me and my family. They had pink wristbands which we learned meant they were admitted to the Astrodome. We

learned that both kids were airlifted to a bridge and

then luckily got to the bus which brought them here.

They have no idea where their mothers are.

We bought them pizza and sodas and water, which was

what they wanted most. They were so appreciative. They

disappeared before halftime and came back with 10 more

kids. Everyone in our row offered to and then got them

food and drink.

They stood and shouted for the Cougs and laughed, I am

sure, for the first time in a while. Their grief

vanished if only for a moment. As we left, the first

kid I met gave my kids a hug and said to my oldest son, ”You’re lucky to have such a nice dad.” He then said he loves Houston. I offered my cell but no calls

worked. We got his name but somehow we lost it on the

way home.

Anything that can be done for our fellow Americans who

have lost so much will be so appreciated. Reliant and

the Cougars and all of Houston should be proud.

It does not matter how inconsequential a kind gesture

may seem in comparison to the suffering we are

witnessing. It will be appreciated more than any of us

can know.

• • •

We resume our regularly scheduled complaint department.

If I were king…

• Texas Tech coach Mike Leach would be forced to end his ridiculous policy of allowing just two players to speak with reporters this season.

I’d try to make Leach understand that he’s got good kids with great stories to tell. Their stories reflect well on Texas Tech. They let other kids know that Texas Tech is a place they ought to want to go to school.

Instead, Leach wants people to hear mostly his story. He has come up a silly excuse about interviews hurting his football team. You’d have to be pretty dumb to believe that.

This ain’t about me, either. It’s not about any sportswriter even though it makes our job more difficult. I could care less about who talks and who doesn’t. That’s their choice. But it ought to be their choice. They’re young adults. They can adult that decision.

I would like to ask Leach if he understands how classless he looked in trying to run the score up on SMU last season, but that’s about it.

If his players are so fragile that they can’t do interviews in which the topics usually are about their high school experiences or that week’s game, then Leach is recruiting the wrong kind of kid. And I know some of his kids. They’ve handled interviews well in the past and could still do so.

It’s not really about that. It’s about a coach who loves the sound of his own voice, who wants his own picture on television. It’s about a school administration that doesn’t get it.

If Leach didn’t understand any of this, I would–I’m king remember–order him to model his media access policy after three schools that do get it: Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

Are their policies perfect? Absolutely not. Media access to college athletes is restricted at every school. But a coach who tells people, ”It’s only about me,” ought to embarrass the people who run that school.

Come to think of it, I’d just hire a school president at Texas Tech who understands the role of athletics–the positives and negatives–at a big-time university. I’d hire someone who cast Texas Tech in a better light, who would not allow Leach to operate as an emperor.

• The NCAA wouldn’t put schools on probation for stupid reasons. Like South Carolina. They had an illegal brochure. They told some kid summer workouts were mandatory.

How silly.

Here’s what a violation should be: it’s academic fraud. Period. End of story. If kids are doing honest work in the classroom, a program shouldn’t be in trouble.

• I’d end this talk about the Saints leaving New Orleans. Yes, they’ve had an ongoing battle over improvements to the Superdome. But no one, not even the owner of a professional sports team, would move a team under these circumstances. Never, ever.

• I’d order the NFL to play two preseason games and 18 regular-season games. Or two preseason games and 16 regular season games.

I don’t care how many they played in the regular season, but playing more than two preseason contests is silly. Because of all the mini-camps during the summer, players are ready to play after a week or so of camp. They’re wasting our time with these extra games.

Some of you probably think the Texans are headed for a disastrous season after their bad preseason. They may be headed for a fall. But the truth is, we don’t know. We don’t know if those interceptions and dropped passes mean a thing. We’ll know more next week in Buffalo. We won’t know a thing before then.

• • •

“You and I exchanged a number of e-mails weeks ago about Griffey. You wrote emphatically that Houston should not get him, and in essence he would be a cancer. Now you write ‘Griffey would have made a dramatic difference, perhaps more than beltran.’ I will give you a chance to explain. But for the first time I am troubled by an apparent hypocrisy.” — an e-mailer

Well, I appreciate the chance to explain myself, counselor. The truth is, I don’t have a real good explanation. I changed my mind, sort of. If you’ve never changed your mind, you won’t understand.

I thought Griffey was a bad move because of his money and general attitude. Yet as the thing played out, as I saw the Astros struggling to score runs, as one prominent player convinced me his attitude wouldn’t be a problem, I came around.

In the end, I never advocated getting him. The only reason I discovered they were close to getting him is that it became clear he was the best alternative. A bunch of guys–Dunn, Kent, Ibanez–didn’t clear waivers. Others–Huff, Alou–weren’t available. Griffey did clear waivers, but the Reds pulled him off the block.

I got to thinking about it and it just made sense he was the one guy capable of elevating the lineup. He would have made a difference. I’m not sure what the definition of hypocrite it, but if it’s someone who changes their mind as things evolve, who keeps gathering facts and looking at the circumstances, then I guess I’m a hypocrite.

“Are their policies perfect? Absolutely not. Media access to college athletes is restricted at every school.”

So, Mr. Justice, why are you only criticizing Mike Leach? It’s equally ridiculous that Mack Brown cut off the media to reporters during spring practice, yet no one made the editorial decision to stop covering the Longhorns because of it like the Star-Telegram did with Texas Tech.

How does one “cut off the media to reporters?” Wouldn’t that be like cutting off politics to Congress?

If you meant “cut off practice to the media”, then your comparison to Brown’s closure of practices is a case of apples vs. oranges. For an entire season, Leach is only going to let two kids from the team talk to the media. The same two kids. For an entire season. In contrast, there will be any number of opportunities throughout the season for the media to talk to any number of Longhorn players.

No other top 25 (or even “others receiving votes”) school is restricting media access to individual players anywhere near as rigidly as Leach. I think *that* is why the media is a little excited about the situation.